McLaren has announced their withdrawal from this weekend’s Australian Grand Prix after a team member tested positive for the coronavirus.
The member went into self-isolation after showing symptoms on Wednesday and late Thursday Melbourne time, it was confirmed they did indeed have the Covid-19 illness.
McLaren’s reaction was swift with Formula 1 team boss Andreas Seidl and CEO Zak Brown both informing F1 management and the FIA of their decision “based on a duty of care, not only to McLaren F1 employees and partners but also to the team’s competitors, Formula 1 fans and wider stakeholders”.
The team member will now be placed into quarantine in Melbourne and McLaren will work with local authorities “to assist their investigations and analysis” per the plan that had been made to deal with a Covid-19 case.
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In better news, the four Haas team members who had also gone into self-isolation having shown symptoms have tested negative the team has confirmed.
However, at this point, it is unknown if the McLaren news will have a knock-on effect for the rest of the Grand Prix weekend, which is set to get underway with practice on Friday.